A few observations after watching a good weekend of competitive high school girls’ soccer at Manchester Meadows last weekend.
The field was pretty good this year, with nine schools from South Carolina and seven schools from North Carolina participating. I like the format where each SC school plays three games, with one being against an NC opponent. Feedback from the schools has been very good and demand should exceed supply next year.
It’s a shame Mother Nature intervened, but, hey, we can’t complain about getting the rain. The tournament committee did a good job of cancelling the Saturday afternoon and evening matches in a timely fashion. Hopefully next year Spartanburg gets hotel rooms and they won’t have to do the I-85 Shuffle all weekend.
Dutch Fork did a great job accumulating the points to take the trophy but Lexington was the best team in the tournament. The Lady Wildcats were tremendous in their 2-1 victory over Charlotte Catholic. Kira Campbell, Ceci Wyrick and Deirdre Ball had great games. Everyone raves about Kira (and justifiably so) but Deirdre is absolutely the best defensive center midfielder I’ve seen this year. She is tough, skilled, fast and gets to every ball first. What more do you want out of a defensive center mid?
Manchester Meadows is a great facility; beautiful fields, easy to get to and great local amenities. I can’t think of a better place to hold a tournament.
Eastside played very well. Their 2-1 win over Butler was a very entertaining game and a great result. Butler may have had the better of the play but Eastside got the “W”. They followed it up on Sunday by giving mighty Lexington all they could handle before falling 1-0 on a tremendous goal by Tabby Billesbach.
Fort Mill had a better offensive showing this year than they did in 2007. The Lady Jackets scored four goals in two games this year, after struggling to tally only one in four games last year. Fort Mill raised some eyebrows by drawing with Charlotte Catholic on Friday night and then jumping out to a 3-0 lead on Irmo on Sunday afternoon. Irmo fought back hard to get it to 3-2 before the ref blew the match dead. Had the girls from the mid-state won the match, they would have taken the championship. In a case of sad irony, the ladies of Irmo had to share a bus ride home with their district mates from Dutch Fork…..who covertly cheered against their “sisters” in their match versus Fort Mill.
Good matches lost: we did not get to see Dutch Fork versus Eastside, Irmo versus Ardrey Kell and Fort Mill versus Lexington. Fort Mill and Lexington could meet in the state playoffs; the other matches are lost for good.
A couple of bad injuries: Fort Mill’s Regan Miller was put on a backboard with a neck brace and stretchered off the field at the conclusion of the Lady Jackets’ match with Charlotte Catholic on Friday night. To add insult to injury, her car was towed out of the Manchester parking lot while she lay in the hospital that evening. Regan was back on the Fort Mill bench on Sunday; however she was very sore and very groggy. She should be back on the field in a week. MacIntyre Hargrove of Spartanburg was part of a horrific collision with a Dutch Fork player on Sunday morning. Her coach, Paul McGinty reports that MacIntyre received a considerable amount of stitches after shattering the cartilage inside her nose. She will be wearing a mask and could be back on the pitch in two weeks. Get well soon Regan and MacIntyre.
Asheville’s TC Roberson was a late replacement for RJ Reynolds. They had a few girls on their roster who play their club soccer in South Carolina for CESA.
There was a college coach sighting in the stands on Friday night. Leto Alibaruho, the assistant women’s soccer coach at St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, NC was scouting talent at the tournament. Leto previously spent time as the assistant men’s coach at Newberry College and was also on the staff at Columbia United.
Spring Valley rebounded well on Sunday against A.C. Flora after a disappointing loss on Friday night to Forsyth Country Day. This was the first time I’ve ever watched Lady Viking Jamie Shaw (heading to East Carolina to play basketball) and she is extremely athletic. SV Coach Steve Lea is a very nice guy and he still hosts the best high school soccer tournament in the state of South Carolina.
Let’s do it again next year!